Wednesday, 17 October 2012

Scene 31: Five Fictional Women Scientists from TV

Yesterday was Ada Lovelace Day, is an annual event to raise awareness of women in the sciences. This includes engineers, technologists, scientists and mathematicians. To celebrate I have done a short list of some fictional female scientists from TV, that have hopefully been an inspiration to girls and guys who've watched the shows.The list is in no particular order, and covers a range of genres, though generally I have ended up picking characters I am familiar with and that are in science fiction. I have also decided to stick to characters where it has been made clear that they are scientists or have degrees within the shows - for example, I have not included T'Pol from Enterprise even though she was the Science Officer, as it is unclear which science she works in. I have also included links other articles on the web, mostly Wiki entries, about the listed characters professions, and the different sciences. 1] Colonel Sam Carter - Stargate series

Sam Carter was a theoretical astrophysicist, pilot and engineer, and one of the most intelligent female characters across the whole Stargate series. She was part of the original team along with Dr Jackson, Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c. 2] Dr Liz Shaw - Doctor Who

Liz Shaw was a scientist from Cambridge University who was recruited by UNIT. An expert on meteorites with degrees in medicine and physics, she assisted the Third Doctor whilst he was at UNIT until she resigned to continue her own research. 3] Abby Sciuto - NCIS

Abby is a Forensic Specialist working at NCIS. A kind, cheerful Goth, she is an expert in DNA analysis, ballistics and digital forensics.4] Zoe Heriot - Doctor Who

Amy is a neuroscientist, who does research into addiction. She was introduced to show as a dating website match found by Raj and Leonard for Sheldon, who she is very similar too. The actress who plays her, Mayim Bialik, actually has a real Ph.D in neuroscience.

For more inspiration check out this video of some young female scientists and engineers showing off their projects in America.